Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-02

tt, n during the last few months, and at
notice has been given of ah application
to be made for special legisl ton N be-
half of the locations and patents, may
presume on your kindness to furnish THE
GAZETTE a statement of the legal statu.
of This interesting and important CUES
ton? | think the people, as well as those
who are to legisl,te for the people, viii
! be edited by such authoritative state
ment, ard l would very much appreciate
your compliance, aud, for such informs
ton, thank you, not only for TEE GA
ZBTTB, but in the name OF the public
also. Very truly and respectfully yours
w L. MALONE,
Managing Editor GAZETTE.
AUSTIN, TEX Dec so 1886
| ": L. Malone, Esq Editor Of the Gazette, For
Worth, Tex:
DEAR SIR-In an effort to comply with
your request of the 26th inst. to furnish
you with a statement OF the legal status
of the locations and patents to land stu
ated In Greer county, l must put you OF
with rather rough and hurried nara.
tive, while at the same time l may travel
little outside OF mere statement Of the
status Of the locations and patents.
This county of Greer embraces 1922
square miles, or an area about three times
that of the county of Tarrant. Express.
ing It's area in acres, there are within Its
territory 1878, $50 acres of land. 1t
lies between two prongs ID river; the
Prairie DOG Town fork, with the Indian
name of "kechiagu ahonO,o on the south,
and the North fork on the north and east,
and the l00Lh meridian of longitude west
from Greenwich on the west. There is
an old chronic dispute between the United
States aud the state OF Texas in regard
to the ownership Of this territory ante
dating the civil war some years. The be-
ginning Of the war found Us in an effort
to settle this dispute, the point OF which
is, which one OF the two prongs
is the real Red river according
to the treaty between the
United States and Mexico or
Spain, made when Texas constituted
part of the Mexican government
1t is insisted on the part of the state Of
Texas Gnd those most familiar with its
early history, that tue North prong is the
true Red river. This gives the territory
to the state of Texas. But it IS as siren
uously insisted upon the part Of the
federal government that the South prong
or Prairie d g Town fork is the true Red
river according to that treaty, which
gives the /, rritory Of Greer county to the
lnGian Territory, or at all events II takes
it away fr1m the state of Texas. Some
geographers place il within the limits of
the state Of Texas, some make it g part of
the Indian Territory, while others are sUf
flCiently accommodating to make it part
of the state Of Texas and also part
of the Indian Territory. When they make
map Of the state of Texas they put
Greer county ia it, and when they make
a map of the Indian Territory hey make
Territory. This county was few months
ago organized and term of the district
court has been held therein.
The eff rts to determine the matter of
disputed boundary had lam dormant, so
far as am informed On the subject, from
about the beginning of the civil war until
1879. During all this time, nVtwith-
Standing the fertility OF the soil and the
general sttrGctlveuess Of the county and
the existence of wild aud hungry hunt
for land during part of that time, there
appears to have been no attempt to locate
certificates within the territorial limit, of
the county, and as will hereafter appear,
no attempt was made to appropriate the
land to p ivate use until its appro-
prIatlon to private use was forbidden. La
1879, during Gov Il berts' first admins
tration, he regarded it important to have
the ownership of the territory settled
The first thought or plan WAS to appeal to
the generosity of the federal government
with the merits OF our claim ard ask it to
relinquish its claim thereto. In order to
give moral force al d strength to this ap-
peal by showing TO the federal
government that the land was not
to be applied to speculative
purposes, but instead thereof was to be
Gyed for the highest governmental pur-
poses, an act was passed on February
25, 1879, entitled "An act TO set aside the
public lands embraced within the terri
torial limits of ihe county of Greer to edu
cational purposes ara for the payment OF
the public debt" Our public debt, "a is
we'll known, was at that time 80 great as
70 be o matter of serious consideration
by the people OF the STATE, and our public
school system, If 1 may apply that word
to it, Yves in the crudest possible conGi-
ton. The passage of this act
was evidently regarded as i'm
portant by the legislature, for it
had the unusual fortune of passing
both houses on the some day on which it
was introduced, with hardly dissenting
vote-only three or four Republicans
voting against land it was made to 20
into effect. This act appro-
priated this reserved land, "one-half there
of for pu lie free schools for the educa-
ton Cf children III Texas, without refer !
70 ba hoI
for the payment of said debt" And it |
was provided that it shall "oe surveyed |
and disposed of for the purpose Of carry
ing out the provisions Of this act In suca |
as may hereafter be provided by |
law" Let it be said right here, tnat from
that day TO this the legislature has |
passed no act providing the manner of
survey and disposition of the land to |
carry out the purposes Of the above act,
but that act has been the only one since |
1879 relsting to the lands in Greer county |
After the enactment of this law in 1879,
this land having been applied 6V it to
other purposes, ceased to be and to fall
within any known definition Of public do
main, for land once appropriated or ap-
Piled to any purpose, ceases from that
to be public domain. Lands once
patented to 8 private owner is not after
hat part of the public domain of the
state, and when 1t has been applied to any
other purpose, it Just as emphaticail'
leases TO constitute part OF the punlic
iomain. This was expressly determined
~ the supreme court of Texas thirty five
Tears ago, and st a much earlier period
Hearty fifty years ago-it was so decided
y the supreme court of the United
States, and these early decisions have
,een followed by the supreme court of